This message is from: John and Martie Bolinski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> I am also guilty of heavy hands. My first horse was a very heavy mouthed ex riding stable hack and runaway and taught me to ride with a long shank pelham; ride on the snaffle until you need the curb. My most recent riding horse, also not a Fjord used to give me a heavy head shaking every time I rode; he would pull with the snaffle, put his head down and shake his head/neck so hard I thought he would throw me. Turns out he had a really bad mouth, so bad that I had to go to a hackamore. Nor THAT taught me not to be so heavy on the reins! Just a little pull up on the reins an he responds. Too much and back to the head down, shake. but so long as I stay off his nose he responds well to a light touch.
Then I get into the cart with my Fjord, Kilar, and back we go to square one. He pulls, I pull harder. He pulls harder yet, I pull harder. We go faster. I finally realize I am hanging on his mouth and give him his head. He stumbles. He eases up. I ease up. We slow down. WHY can't I just remember this every time I dri ve!! It is OK when I have my instructor in the cart. She slaps my hands when she sees it. I can't seem to figure it out for myself until the poor horse is pulling. And I don't want to ruin him by doing this. Luckily he is very forgiving. And NOT a runaway. He seems to think this is some kind of game of tug of war. Well, I'll keep practicing. When we drive together a lot, it gets easier. Then I take of (for the winter this time) and we start over. Fjords are so nice. Debby Stai wrote: > This message is from: Debby Stai <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > I would agree with this, if you have heavy hands then a harsher bit will not > help, > except! I do have an Arab that would get "nervous" on the trail, and when > we'd > trot or canter, he would be hard to stop, especially if he thought he was > being > left behind. In the arena he is very quiet but comes to life on the trail. I
